Works approval is required pursuant to section 19A of the Environment
Protection Act 1970 for works at scheduled premises which will, or will be
likely to, alter or increase the discharge of wastes or emission of noise to
the environment. This also applies to the treatment and storage of prescribed
wastes.
The works approval process was established to deal with commercial scale
proposals where industrial process and discharge parameters are well known and
where there is an ongoing discharge to the environment. Given the nature of
research, development and demonstration projects, a different procedure is
needed to cater for such projects that are typically limited in scale,
duration and environmental impact.
This procedure is known as research, development and demonstration (RD&D)
approval and is applicable to genuine RD&D projects.
Large projects that pose the same level of risk of environmental impact as
established commercial scale industrial processes will have to undergo the
usual works approval.